
Copyrights 



COESUGHT DEPOSIT. 



POEMS 

by GRANVILLE LOWTHER 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/poemsOOIowt 



POEMS 



BY 



GRANVILLE LOWTHER 




NEW YORK 
MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 

1922 






Copyright, 1922, by 
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 



OCT 1872 



C1A683791 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PART ONE 

PAGE 

The Christian 9 

The Philosopher 10 

The Agnostic 12 

The Higher Law 13 

The Human Trinity 14 

Building 15 

Involution, Evolution 16 

Peace on Earth 17 

The Infinite Good 18 

Where Is God? 19 

Billy, the Dog 20 

To My Critics 21 

My Destiny 22 

The End of the Rainbow 23 

Love Survives 25 

PART TWO 

Sense and Nonsense 

Early Days 33 

Success 34 

It Can Be Done 35 

Suggestion 36 

Washington 37 

Lessons From the Mississippi Flood 39 

Signs and Wonders 42 

Success or Failure 43 

Whence and Whither 44 

Life 45 

Speaking the Truth 46 

Great and Small 47 



Part One 



THE CHRISTIAN 

Whoever feeds a hungry babe 
Or clothes a naked child; 
Whoever rescues from the depth 
A soul with sin defiled ; 

Whoever cools a parched tongue 
Or bathes an aching brow, 
Proves to the doubting ones, 
That God is here and NOW. 

The Indian "sees God in the storm 
And hears him in the wind:" 
The Magi saw Him in the star, 
The Brahmins through the "MIND." 

Some see the "Power that makes for right;" 
Some say "The Great Unknown;" 
The Zoroastrians called him "Light," 
Jews, "The Almighty One." 

The Greeks saw Life Divine ensouled 
In Nature's forms and plan, 
While Christians look to Christ and feel 
That God abides in Man. 

All races struggle toward the good 
As flowers seek the light; 
Search out the mysteries of God, 
Express the Infinite. 

In field and forest, earth and sea, 
In sun and star and air; 
In Mind and Matter, Life and Law 
Our God is EVERYWHERE. 

— 9 — 



THE PHILOSOPHER 

In thought sublime transcending time 
He spans Eternity 
To find the throne of the Unknown 
Who fills Infinity. 

He seeks the cause : the Life, the Laws 
Of forms that dance and play 
Of measures given in vibrant rhythm 
That speed the suns away. 

He seeks the Surge, the endless Urge, 
The twinkling stars that sing 
While light and heat in splendor meet 
With mutual offerings. 

See atoms born and worlds take form 
While comets plume their trains, 
To join the chorus of the spheres 
In musical refrains. 

See mountains rise to meet the skies 
The surging seas shut in 
See angry clouds like funeral shrouds 
The earth convulsed within. 

The awful strife of dawning life 
Survival of the strong: 
Evolving man, apparent plan, 
A sense of right and wrong. 



10 — 



The wars, the flash of whip and lash, 
The victor and the slave; 
Hear cannons roar, see shot swept shore, 
To free, avenge, and save. 

The pains and moans, the dying groans, 
Tumult and angry strife, 
Are pangs of woe by which we grow 
To higher forms of life. 

The measured years with floods and tears 
Their sweat and toil and blood 
Enrich the earth and bring to birth 
Concepts of greater good. 

From grief and wrong we rise in song, 
From depths to heights above ; 
Through war and woe men learn to know 
The mastery of love. 



— 11 



THE AGNOSTIC 

"I know not whence I came, 

I know not whither I go ;" 
But I am here on this little sphere 

With longings to learn and grow. 

My path through the ages past 
May have been through clay and clod; 

And I do not know if the way I go 
Leads back to the dust, or to God. 

The forces of Nature fight 

And science seem so austere 
That I wonder at last when the wars are past, 

Will good in it all appear? 

I read and reason and wait, 
And think and ponder and prove 

But I do not foresee an eternity 
Of personal pain or love. 

I know not the "Great World Ground" 
I know not the "Great First Cause" 

But I know loss and gain, and pleasure and 
pain 
Result from governing laws. 

I know not of heaven or Hell 
Where all earth's inhabitants go ; 

But I know as we give we surely receive 
And reap whatsoever we sow. 



— 12 — 



THE HIGHER LAW 

Unfathomed Substance, Spirit, Life, 
Unmeasured force and form, 
Teach us the law by which we rise 
Through struggle, stress and storm 

We feel the surging energy 

That stirs the rolling seas ; 

That wings the winds and speeds the worlds 

And spans eternity. 

May countless modes of life and force 
And all the stars and suns 
Teach us the true affinity 
Of many joined in One. 

If Thou dost "Fill unmeasured space 
And bound infinity" 
May every atom find some place 
Of harmony in Thee. 

We may have "come through slime and mold, 
Through hoof and horn and claw" 
To reach the ever larger life, 
To find the higher law, 

To sense the purer atmosphere 
To clearer, brighter light 
And rise to power and liberty 
Through justice, truth and right. 

But now we catch the distant notes 
Of symphonies above, 
We'll join them in the sweeter strains 
Of Universal LOVE. 

— 13 — 



THE HUMAN TRINITY 

The sunshine reached across the space, 
And kissed my baby on the face, 

And painted it so rich a hue 
That I stooped down and kissed her too. 

Now little one, what makes you coo? 

Did sunshine paint your two eyes blue? 
What makes that curious little smile 
And keeps you struggling all the while ? 

There now ! what is it makes you weep ? 

What do you dream when you're asleep? 
What makes you gaze and yawn and blink? 

I wonder what you really think. 

I wonder, will your life be blurred 
By actions where I may have erred ? 

Or if some power could atone 
For any wrongs I may have done. 

I hope my life will be so true, 
That no reproach will come to you 

Or sorrow with its awful load, 
From reaping what your father sowed. 

Your mother pure as pure can be, 
Now stoops and kisses you and me, 

As if that sunshine from above 
Came to ignite our latent love. 

Perhaps from many million years 
Our race has come through toil and tears, 

To demonstrate that God is good 
In father, childhood, motherhood. 

— 14 — 



BUILDING 

Sometimes we wear a pleasant smile, 
When all our fairest hopes are crushed; 

With laugh and jest our friends beguile, 
When grief would seem the heart to burst. 

We move amidst a pleasant throng, 

Disguising all the spirit feels 
And not in language jest or song 

The sufferings of the heart reveal. 

The spirit lowers like storm and night 
Deepening the darkness of the skies, 

Forgetful that the sun of light 
In majesty and power will rise ; 

Or, like the earth's interior fires 
Belching forth thunderous torrents loud 

Building majestic mountain spires 
That lift their heads above the clouds. 

Thus shall the forces of my soul 

Build domes that pierce the heavens above, 
And light eternal prove that all 

Is Wisdom, Unity, and Love. 



— 15 



INVOLUTION, EVOLUTION 

What is this energy, this life 

That struggles from the sod, 

Through plant, and fish and beast and bird 

To man who seeks for God? 

What heights, what distant fields afar 
Contain the greatest good? 
The instinct answers "Follow me" 
And leads the way to God. 

Is there some "Great First Cause," some Life, 

Some Universal Good 

From whence we came, to whom we go? 

Man's reason answers, God. 

We sense the Great, the Infinite, 
The boundless, countless Whole; 
The substance of the Universe 
The All-inclusive Soul. 



16 



PEACE ON EARTH 

Whenever we come to be civil 

The predisposition to fight, 
Will conquer the forces of Nature 

With clear intellectual light. 

Whenever we come to be moral 
The instincts that lead us to strife, 

Will guide us to grapple with causes 
Producing the comforts of life. 

Whenever we come to be Christian 
With justice our fortress and might, 

Our armies and navies will vanish 
Like phantoms and ghosts of the night. 

When a court of the world shall determine 
What governing forces are just, 

Then a God will rule over the nations 
All religions and races can trust. 



— 17™ 



THE INFINITE GOD 

At-one with the Infinite God; 

Expressing His wisdom and power 
The Absolute Measureless Good 

Renewing my life every hour. 

I quietly, silently wait 

The inflowing currents Divine 
Which strange inspirations awake, 

And new aspirations are mine. 

New concepts of duty control 
Enthuse with the vigor of youth, 

Energize all the powers of the soul 
Which vibrate to visions of truth. 

All things emanated from God 
All creatures below and above; 

The plan of all nature is good, 
And the law of right living is Love. 



18 — 



WHERE IS GOD? 

If God in every atom lives 
"Holy and undefiled," 
Then all the earth is "holy ground" 
And every one his child. 

With part of God's Eternal time 
We measure human life: 
Then all our days are "holy days" 
With none for greed and strife. 

The priest in sacred robes may point 
"The straight and narrow way." 
But honest toil appeals to God 
As much as when we pray. 

If all men have their origin 

In one great Fatherhood, 

Then all should think and act and live 

As one great brotherhood. 

Then spurn to crush a human life 
For what we do not need ; 
Love cannot wage an angry strife 
For selfishness and greed. 

We build our altars of our hearts 
Our sacred selves we bring, 
Where every worshiper's a priest 
And every man a king. 



19 — 



BILLY THE DOG 

Only a dog, but he loves me 
I seem to him as a God, 
He sits with his face toward me 
Awaiting my every nod. 

He knows not my mind, but he trusts me 
Obedient to my command, 
He lies at my feet and watches 
And tenderly fondles my hand. 

His looks and his whinings are pleadings 
Delivered in his simple way, 
In substance they speak to his master 
As I to my Father would pray. 

I know not what he is thinking 
Or whether he thinks at all, 
But he and I are included in the limitless "All 
in All." 



20 — 



TO MY CRITICS 

A critic called me an Atheist, 
But Atheism means no God; 

Another called me a Pantheist, 
But Pantheism means all God. 

One said, "He's in mid-ocean drifting" 
Another, "He's headed for Hell" 

Then where are the harbors and inlets 
To Hades, can anyone tell? 

Now may it not be that an instinct 
Divine, is directing us right, 

And when the wild voyage is ended 
We'll find all our critics in sight? 

And when we sail into the harbor 
From rounding the limitless coast, 

We'll find there are millions on millions 
We formerly thought had been lost? 

And won't we be glad to discover 
That goodness was everywhere; 

That no one had stranded or drifted 
Outside of His Infinite care. 



— 21 



MY DESTINY 

Whatever, whoever I am, 
Wherever my pathway may be, 
Howe'er my existence began, 
I am shaping my own destiny. 

I think and my thought is a cause ; 
I will and new powers generate; 
In thinking and willing, I am 
Creator and cause of my fate. 

I pulsate with limitless life, 
Vibrate with its rhythmical plan, 
Then follow my longings and wait 
The process of making a man. 



— 22 — 



THE END OF THE RAINBOW 

At the end of the rainbow I have been told 
Were treasures awaiting for me ; 

Great hopes of the best things with silver and 
gold 
From the ends of the earth and the sea. 

When raindrops were falling and sunbeams 
reflecting 

Out just beyond meadow and lea, 
I wondered if woodland or hilltop or lowland, 

Had fairies out waiting for me. 

Sometimes I could see them, then sometimes I 
heard them: 
Sometimes I saw snares set for me ; 
But something kept surging within me and 
urging, 
"Why don't you run out there and see?" 

One day on the hillside, above and beyond me, 
The end of the rainbow was clear ; 

I ran out to meet it, possess it and greet it 
While all of its prizes were near. 

But when I arrived where I surely had seen it, 
'Twas kissing the hilltop beyond ; 

I kept on pursuing, it kept on alluring, 
Wherever I went it was gone. 

I was tired, disappointed, discouraged, de- 
spondent, 
Resolved to chase rainbows no more ; 
But the hills and the mountains, enlarging my 
vision, 
Beckoned me as never before. 



There are rainbows of mind that allure the 
inventors, 
Explorers who chart earth and sea; 
They inspire the reformer, the poets and 
prophets 
With visions of good things to be. 

These leaders have followed their rainbows of 
beauty; 
Kept chasing the sunbeams of light ; 
Their day dreams, their night dreams, their 
phantoms and fancies, 
Their clearest conceptions of right. 

They conceived of the coming of some great 
Messiah 

To save from the ruin of sin: 
Their concepts inspired and their visions 
transformed, 
Till they found their Redeemer within. 

With instincts and impulses urging him on- 
ward, 
Man follows his concepts of good ; 
'Till he consciously lives in the Boundless 

Eternal, 
The absolute Infinite God. 



— 24 



LOVE SURVIVES 

When He and She were courting 
They had very little gold; 
But they loved and loved more tensely 
Than their tongues had ever told. 

She was a modest maiden 
And He — well he was young 
Unaccustomed to expressing 
His affections with his tongue. 

So it very often happened 
They expressed their hearts desire 
When they sat as mum as mummies 
Looking straight into the fire. 

There they seemed to read their future 
In the flames of blazing light 
As they danced and swayed and sputtered 
To conquer cold and night. 

And they wondered if the storms without 
Were symbols of their lives 
And if the love young lovers feel 
All turbulence survives. 

And he led her to the altar 
Prouder than a plumed knight: 
Mailed and mounted for the f oeman 
Eager to begin the fight 

Not a fight with bristling warriors 
Armed with battle ax and steel : 
But with plow and hoe and reaper 
In the broad and fertile field. 

— 25 — 



They settled where the prairie "grand" 

Coquets the sons of toil, 

And yields luxurious treasures 

On the bosom of her soil. 

They drained the sloughs and turned the sod 
Where the wild fowls conk and coo, 
They built a little cottage there 
Just large enough for two. 

There was not a shingle on the roof, 
Nor plank upon the floor 
And not a brick or stone or nail, 
Or hinge or lock or door; 

Not a rose bush in the garden, 
Not an ornament or tree ; 
But they had planned and planted 
In faith and hope and glee. 

There where the wild flowers blossom 
Where the breezes play and sing 
His wife was happy as a queen 
And he felt like a king. 

But the mortgage they had given 
To secure the payments all, 
Stood, challenging their energies, 
To liquidate at call. 

And they met the challenge bravely 
Working fourteen hours a day; 
Stopping not for cold or sunshine 
Scarcely taking time to pray. 

— 26 — 



They saw it growing smaller 
As each year the roses fall 
And they talked of how they'd live 
When they had payed it all. 

It was an awful struggle 
For prices went to crash 
And every mortgage holder then 
Was clamoring for cash ; 

And everything the debtors had 
Was offered to be sold, 
And every creditor required 
The equivalent of gold. 

They saw their neighbors' holdings lost 
Their earnings swept away, 
Saw manhood yield to mammon 
And character decay. 

Saw thousands work and toil and strive 
With debt, despair and sin, 
While every effort to get out, 
Brought them more deeply in. 

Again he asked her if the storms 
Were symbols of their lives 
And if the love true lovers feel 
All turbulence survives. 

Her loyal heart responded yes, 
With hope and love enthroned: 
We two can better face the storm 
Together than alone. 

— 27 — 



They conquered debt and poverty 
But gained what counted more ; 
They learned to love the struggling, 
Love the helpless and the poor. 

Now they have grown more feeble, wan, 
Less able for the strife : 
Soon they will pass the pearly gates 
Beyond the storm and strife. 

They've lived together fifty years 
But love, the heart's desire, 
Still burns as they together sit 
Looking straight into the fire. 

Then let the storm clouds rage without 
As symbols of their lives: 
They know the true love lovers feel 
All turbulence survives. 

Written for the fiftieth wedding anniversary of 
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Boone. 



— 28 — 



LATER 

Now he is gone the old love lives ; 
The flame of life's desire 
Burns, while she sits in solitude 
And looks into the fire. 

The winter winds may rush and surge 
As symbols of their lives : 
She knows the true love lovers feel 
Will death itself survive. 



— 29 — 



Part Two 

SENSE AND NONSENSE 



EARLY DAYS 

I think of early school days 
"Three R's" and "spelling bee" days 
When every master used the whip 
For nearly every little slip 
In breaking rules he made. 

I think of early church days 
Long sermons "Holy Sundays" 
When every child was born depraved 
And every soul from Hell was saved 
By very narrow creeds. 

I think of early farm days 
Hard work with few rest days : 
When big and little used their powers 
From ten to twelve or fifteen hours 
And Mother made the clothes. 

And now I wonder if the ways 
Of pleasure riding Sundays, 
And easy times on week days, 
With vaudevilles and screen plays 
Will make strong characters. 

If we had every good thing 
The past and modern thought brings, 
Without the faults of early days 
Or foolish fads of modern ways 
We'd make the planets ring. 



— 33 — 



SUCCESS 

Fix the goal of your ambition, 
Far beyond the common vision. 
Straggle upward: keep on going: 
Feed the mind, continue growing. 
If you reach your heart's desire 
Keep advancing, higher, higher ! 
On! and on FOREVER. 



— 34 



IT CAN BE DONE 

Did you hear some one say that "It can not be 

done; 
Because no one ever has done it?" 
Keep thinking and planning: persisting and 

trying : 
The first thing you know you'll have done it. 

Of every device in existence today, 
Some one has affirmed "you can't do it !" 
But someone else saw it, believed he could do 

it* 
The next thing was known, HE HAD DONE 

IT. 

Perhaps when God planned to create a few 
planets 

Old Lucifer said, "You can't do it." 

But Nature responded: the Universe thun- 
dered : 

The next thing was known, HE HAD DONE 
IT. 

Then Lucifer, some of our poets have told us, 
Began a rebellion in Heaven 
And he kept on repeating, "It cannot be done" 
Until he into Hades was driven. 



35 



SUGGESTION 

I don't know what I'll grow to be 

When I become a man, 
But I would like to be the boy 

My Mother thinks I am. 

So many things I'd like to do 

That I don't think are good. 
But then I'd like to be the boy 

My Mother thinks I should. 

I want to whip the boy next door 
Whenever he steals my ball, 

But Mother says I never fight 
So, I can't fight at all. 

Sometimes I feel so cross and mean 

I'd like to swear and damn: 
But if I did, I could not be 

What Mother thinks I am. 

She thinks I'm growing strong and fine, 

And I most think so too. 
So I don't want to do the thing 

She says I wouldn't do. 

I'm going to cut out all that's mean 

And grow to be a man, 
So I can be the kind of boy 

My Mother thinks I am. 



36 — 



WASHINGTON 

I love the State of Washington, 
Her valleys and her plateaus ; 

Her fertile soil thrown from the cones 
Of surging volcanoes. 

I love her orchards, gardens, homes: 

Her hills and grazing herds, 
Her fields of grass and growing grains, 

Her fishes, beasts and birds. 

And thou the great Columbia 

That pours into the sea 
Fresh waters from the mountain streams, 

I think and sing of thee. 

I love the snow capped mountain peaks, 

The cedars, firs and pines; 
The rock ribbed ranges, canyons, crags, 

The water falls and mines. 



— 37 — 



I love the inland lakes and bays ; 

The splendid Puget Sound ; 
The Islands, promontories, peaks, 

And the Great Ocean's bound. 

There's something good in every place 

Beneath the shining sun ; 
But I have never seen so much 

Concentrated into ONE. 



38 



LESSONS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI 
FLOOD 

The fish deposit spawn upon the shallows, 
Their young are hatched in millions near the 
deep ; 

The shifting riverbeds cast out their minnows 
Upon the sands for beasts and birds to eat. 

The ants are building hillocks near the river ; 

They struggle, store and build from day to 
day; 
Not knowing that the rolling, roaring torrent 

Will flood the land and wash them all away. 

The birds are building nests among the for- 
ests, 
In which to breed their young and grow 
their kind: 
Not sensing that the awful storms of summer 
May sweep them down like zephyrs in the 
wind. 

So, men are building near the Mississippi, 
They toil through many sacrificial years; 

The raging torrents sweep away their labor, 
And leave them naught but poverty and 
tears. 

Does this great river teach the old, old lesson 
That men are brothers at its source and 
mouth? 
That if the north would irrigate its prairies 
The channel would not break and flood the 
south. 

— 39 — 



The arid wastes of many million acres 

Beg for the cooling streams to quench their 
thirst ; 
In turn they promise lakes and fruits and for- 
ests 
Till storage rooms and granaries shall burst. 

Then, too, the leagues of vast denuded uplands 
Are stripped of all their foliage and pride; 

They take revenge by sending raging torrents 
From every vale and hill and mountainside. 

They cry "restore to us our wasted treasures : 

Our chestnuts, walnuts, forest trees and 

flowers : 

Our wealth will flow then on the river bosom 

And health and beauty will be yours and 

ours." 

Will we decide that providence is cruel? 

That nature forces have no soul or heart? 
Or shall we see that law is Universal 

With cause and consequence in every part? 

Millions have ridden in the storms to victory, 
Gained strength in every battle with the 
waves : 
Then bade defiance to the winds and oceans, 
Their skill and wisdom their own power to 
save. 



40 — 



Shall men who cable the deep beds of ocean, 
And talk to nations with the lightning's 
flash 
Accept their fate like dumb, unthinking in- 
sects, 
And float to sea with ruined homes and 
trash ? 

We proudly ride upon the wind and currents : 
We sail the air as ships sail on the sea ; 

Are these our masters, these unfeeling forces, 
Or angel messengers to set us free ? 

Will God with countless systems all in motion 
Suspend their forces for a human cry? 

Or must we, like birds and beasts and insects 
Adjust ourselves to keep the law, or die? 

Sometime when we have fully comprehended 
Forces that now seem little understood, 

We may discover that the central power 
Which moves the great, broad Universe is 
Good. 



— 41 — 



SIGNS AND WONDERS 

When the peacock screams at sunset, 
And the trees are tipped with white, 

It's a sign of passing daylight 
And the coming of the night. 

When the rooster crows at midnight 
With his cock-a-doodle-doo, 

There is something in the atmosphere, 
Frost, rain or snow, or dew. 

When the turkey gobbler gobbles, 
With that tuneful voice of his, 

"Then the weather either changes, 
Or continues as it is." 

When your rheumatism hurts you, 
And you're feeling rather strange, 

There is something going to happen, 
Or, there's going to be a change. 

When the ground hog sees his shadow, 
As he leaves his wintry den, 

He either likely roams about, 
Or wanders back again. 

If the fortune teller sees your 
Many friends who've gone before, 

There will be another death some time, 
Or maybe three or four. 

Be careful when you're gardening, 
Don't sow the seed too soon; 

Remember, too, whate'er you do, 
"Plant taters in the moon." 

— 42 — 



SUCCESS OR FAILURE 

Do we look at the faults of our fathers and 
say, 

"How simple their notions were," 
Or do we obsreve our own errors and see 

"How foolish we mortals are." 

Be not too severe, for the men who succeed, 
Who have mounted the heights and pre- 
vailed, 

Owe more than they know to the heroic deeds 
Of the men who have struggled and failed. 

The bold pioneers in the unknown wilds, 
Whose mistakes teach us what not to do, 

Help us succeed with the knowledge we gain 
By keeping their errors in view. 



43 



WHENCE AND WHITHER 

I think I have come from the limitless past, 

A limitless future my goal ; 
A product of matter, intelligence, life ; 

Some part of the Infinite whole. 

I feel I am launched on the measureless path, 
That millions before me have trod. 

That longing for life in its fullness foretells 
Eternal outreachings for God. 



— 44 — 



LIFE 

As rolls the sea, surge after surge, 

Evolving life in endless URGE ; 

A radiant energy, a force 

With solar systems in its course; 

It leaps through space, outmeasures time, 

Creating myriad shapes sublime; 

From countless germs and countless norms 

Expressing ever higher forms. 



45 



SPEAKING THE TRUTH 

If everybody spoke the truth 
Without one effort to pretend, 

How many would there be on earth 
Who had a single sincere friend? 

This does not mean that false and true 
Are equal, or that lies are good; 

It means we have not learned the law 
Of true unselfish brotherhood. 



46 — 



GREAT AND SMALL 

There is something of life in an atom; 

There is something of love in a rose; 
There is something of Infinite power 

In every wind that blows. 

From measureless space comes matter; 

Out of Eternity, time; 
And out of the discords of ages 

Grow harmonies sublime. 



— 47 — 



